Attachment 89613 Details for Bug 82806 – details of improperly initialized PC card behavior

details of improperly initialized PC card behavior

PCCARD.TXT (text/plain), 2.66 KB, created by Nick Mumbach on 2003-01-26 21:54:15 UTC

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Creator: Nick Mumbach

Created: 2003-01-26 21:54:15 UTC

Size: 2.66 KB

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>I am running an installation of Red Hat Linux 8.0 on a Dell Latitude CPT Laptop with an Intel Celeron 466
>processor, 192Mb RAM, a 12Gb Hard Drive, and a Dell/3Com 3CCFEM656 combo PCMCIA card providing 10/100 LAN and
>56K modem capabilities.  I use a Red Hat Network entitlement to keep my system up-to-date.
>
>I had originally (RHL 7.3?) reported a problem wherein the Linux boot process reported the following error:
>'Bringing up interface eth0: 3c59x device does not seem to be present, delaying eth0 initialization.'
>I was subsequently informed that the interface SHOULD start when the PCMCIA services were later started,
>and that seemed to be the case, (when the 'Cyclone' driver came up) so I dropped the issue.
>
>Aside from the inadvisability of displaying error messages when there are, in fact, no errors, (due to the
>reality that people will grow used to seeing and ignoring said messages, pre-disposing them to ignore other,
>more imporatant messages) it seems I must revisit the problems with the PC card initialization.  The card does
>not initialize reliably.  The boot log shows apparently the same sequence of events, as descibed above, but
>sometimes the LAN is accessible, and sometimes it is not.  When I am connected to a 10-baseT hub, the 10mb
>indicator on the PC card dongle is on, as is the indicator on the hub, but sometimes I have netowrk access and
>sometimes not. On a 10/100 hub and network, if the network connection is good, the dongle 100mb indicator is
>on solid; if not, it flashes; I could not check the indicator on the hub, as it is not accessible to me.
>
>Very infrequently, I can restore network connectivity by unplugging the PC card after start up, and plugging
>it back in a few moments later.  It appears in ALL cases, on both 10BT and 100BTX network connections, that if
>I boot to RH Linux 8.0 without the card in place, and then insert the card, the LAN connection is OK.
>
>Under NO circumstances am I able to use the Internet Connection Wizard to establish a modem interface using
>the PC card; it reports "no modems found."  Yet, the Hardware Browser reports the 3CCFEM656 10/100 LAN+56K
>Modem Cardbus device, with Driver 3c59x, Device N/A, under "Modems" when the card is installed.
>
>While I am as loathe to report it as you are to hear it, the card works properly when I boot to W95 or W98,
>both when installed prior to power-up and after the fact, LAN and Modem, so the hardware would seem to be
>functional.
>
>I don't know if this WAS a problem when I first reported in in 7.3(2? limbo? null?), or if it was as 
>intermittent as it seems to be in 8.0 and I did not recognize the fact.  I am inexpert in these matters, as I
>am trying to learn Linux from scratch with no prior Unix experience.

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